A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
LOCAL NEWS/COMMENTARY
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015
Public can participate in EOTEC project success
By DAVE DROTZMANN
Guest commentary
Dear Eastern Oregon
residents,
Recently, the Eastern Or-
egon Trade & Event Center
board hosted a community
update that was well at-
tended. However, we know
that many of you who are
interested and invested in
this project were unable to
attend. With that in mind, I
reach out to you today with
a project update on Phase 1
of the EOTEC.
As a historical remind-
er, the EOTEC project is
a joint venture between
the city of Hermiston and
Umatilla County to remove
the old Umatilla Coun-
ty fairgrounds from the
compressed 21-acre site in
downtown Hermiston to a
new 94-acre site south of
town, near the airport.
It’s long been a vision,
started over 30 years ago by
many regional leaders, that
one day the new site would
be the location for the
Umatilla County Fair and
the Farm-City Pro Rodeo,
coupled with a new Eastern
Oregon Event Center. The school to expand, the fair-
Event Center will be capa- grounds needed to move.
So in 2012, the school
ble of hosting larger
district purchased the
audiences and attract-
fairgrounds for $3
ing local, regional,
million dollars, sav-
and state conventions
ing the community
and conferences, all
millions of dollars in
of which is not possi-
bonding. By doing
ble at the current site
without the invest- Drotzmann this, the school dis-
trict guaranteed its
ment of millions of
expansion possibili-
dollars into massive
ties, without having to pur-
infrastructure changes.
The Umatilla County chase additional land and
Fair is unique in that it is build a new high school
one of the few fairs in the site somewhere else, at an
nation that successfully estimated cost of over $100
operates in the black, and million.
We all know that an
its participation has grown
by more than 54 percent initiative this size can’t be
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This fact, coupled with QL¿FDQW DPRXQWV RI IXQG-
the success and support of ing, which is the primary
the Farm-City Pro Rodeo, reason the fairgrounds ha-
makes for great appeal to a ven’t been moved for over
larger audience of attendees 30 years. That all changed
when the school district
and spectators.
Over the last 10 years, purchased the land, and
regional leaders have been EOTEC received the state
meeting to discuss the im- lottery funds secured by
pending growth demands state Rep. Greg Smith.
of the Hermiston School Those funds, along with
District, including the high other state grants, and con-
school. It was agreed upon tributions from Umatilla
by all, that for the high County, the city of Herm-
iston, and our local hotel
group, has bolstered us to
$14 million in available re-
sources.
The EOTEC Authori-
ty Board hired the FREW
Group in October 2013.
Over the last two years,
55 out of the 94 acres of
barren ground has been
transformed to meet our
current needs and potential
future expansions. In Jan-
uary 2015, the Exhibitor &
Event Center building start-
ed construction and is now
75 percent complete, with
an expected completion
date of April 1, 2016.
A fundraising group,
consisting of Dennis Bar-
nett, Greg Harris, Nate Ri-
vera and myself, has been
authorized by the EOTEC
Authority Board to pursue
additional
contributions
with the goal of raising $2
million in private funding.
If these funds are raised,
EOTEC will be unburdened
by mortgage payments, al-
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sooner. This would also
complete Phase 1, allow-
ing us to host the Umatilla
Final EOTEC meeting of 2015 is Brookshier’s last
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
The Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center
board said goodbye to its
chair Friday during its last
meeting of 2015.
Ed Brookshier said
serving on the board has
been a “true honor and
pleasure,” even though the
task has not been easy.
“I hope to be able to
continue to help in any
way I can,” he said.
Brookshier is being re-
placed by Hermiston City
Manager Byron Smith
after the City Council de-
manded that Smith be put
on the board as a condition
of the $600,000 the city
recently agreed to contrib-
ute toward construction.
Vice chair Dan Dorran
thanked Brookshier, not-
ing that he had been meet-
ing with people “no less
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about EOTEC business in
recent months.
“It’s an amazing amount
FILE PHOTO
Ed Brookshier (center)
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of time people don’t under-
stand that goes into this and
it’s all volunteer,” he said.
The board had plenty
of business to get to Fri-
day. Rob Dreier, project
manager for Frew Devel-
opment Group, said the
event center/exhibitor hall
is on schedule to be com-
pleted by March 2016.
He suggested the board
begin laying out policies
and procedures for op-
erating the building so
that the EOTEC authority
could “take off running”
with hosting events in
the building as soon as it
opens in March.
He also asked for the
board to make a decision
between using natural
gas or propane to heat the
building and the rest of
the site. Natural gas would
cost about $56,000 to put
in, he said, compared to
$23,000 for propane. But
in the long run natural gas
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ly and it doesn’t take up
the space that a fenced-
in collection of propane
tanks would.
The board unanimously
agreed on natural gas after
the discussion.
They also approved
EOTEC’s annual audit by
Barnett & Moro, which
found no structural weak-
nesses or other issues with
EOTEC’s
bookkeeping
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The board approved
an agreement with LRS
Architects to create a
three-dimensional model
of the project to show po-
tential investors during the
fundraising committee’s
four-month campaign to
raise $2 million for con-
struction by April 1, 2016.
Dorran said the fund-
raising committee was on
a “very aggressive sched-
ule” that works out to
raising about $200,000 a
week. Since EOTEC will
host the fair, rodeo and
other events to the ben-
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he said the committee is
planning to look beyond
Hermiston to the rest of
Umatilla County, as well
as eastern Morrow Coun-
ty and across the river into
Washington for possible
donors.
County Fair and Farm-City
Pro Rodeo starting in Au-
gust 2017. By getting the
funds upfront, this regional
complex will not be taking
on large debt, like other re-
gional event centers, and
this region can start seeing
the rewards sooner.
Families, groups, and
businesses throughout the
region, can directly invest
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Eastern Oregon quality and
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EOTEC can be the facility
that communicates to the
rest of the state, “We are
committed to the people of
our region and are willing
to work together to make it
happen.”
So, please, join us, and
the many others who’ve al-
ready invested in this proj-
ect. To learn more about
Phase 1 of the EOTEC
project, or how you can
contribute, go to www.eo-
techermiston.com.
David Drotzmann is an
optometrist and owner of
Lifetime Vision Source in
Hermiston He has been
mayor of Hermiston since
January 2013.
The Community is invited and
Welcome to Christmas Eve
Service and Communion
December 24, 6 p.m.
First Christian
Church
C HRISTMAS E VE
S ERVICE
775 W. Highland - Hermiston
541-567-3013
www.hermistonfirstchristian.org
F IR ST P R E SB Y TE R IA N C H U R C H
201 SW D orion Ave., Pen dleton
D E C E M B E R 24 TH
5:30 P M - Fa m ily Frien d ly
Christm a s E ve Service
11:00 P M - Tra d ition a l Service,
Scriptu re, Son g, Com m u n ion
& Ca n d lelight
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Baker City woman thankful for help
On Saturday, Dec. 19, while driving home, I had a tire
blow out and it did a lot of damage to the front of my car. I
want to thank the very nice Umatilla state trooper that came
out and helped me and stayed with us until the tow truck
arrived and had my car loaded. I also want to thank the gen-
tlemen from Hermiston Auto Body & Towing for graciously
Church
Directory
and safely towing me and my car back to Baker City. Uma-
tilla and Hermiston areas, you are so fortunate to have such
wonderful people in your communities. It’s also so nice to
know that there are such caring people in this area, given
everything that is going on in the world. I am truly grateful!
Thank You.
AUDREY HINDMAN
BAKER CITY, OREGON
NEW BEGINNINGS
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Worship Service 10:30 AM
Sunday School 9:00 AM
Pastor J.C. Barnett
Children's Church
& Nursery Available
700 West Orchard Avenue
P.O. Box 933
Hermiston, Oregon
541-289-4774
Echo Community
Church
21 N Bonanza Street
Echo, OR
Phone: (541) 376-8108
Sunday School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:30 am
Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:45 am
Children’s Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:15 am
Potluck & Communion ~
First Sunday of the Month
Seventh-day
Adventist Church
s h i
W o r
p w i t h u s !
1255 Hwy. 395 S. • 567-5834
oasisvineyard.us
Worship 10:00 AM
"come as you are"
The Full Gospel
Home Church
235 SW 3rd
Phone 567-7678
Rev. Ed Baker - Rev. Nina Baker
Sunday: Sunday School . . . . . 10:00 am
Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 am
Evening Service . . . . . . 7:00 pm
Wednesday Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:00 pm
First United
Methodist
Church Of
Hermiston
Rev. Dr. James T. Pierce, Pastor
Open Hearts, Open minds,
Open doors
"Casting all your care upon him;
for he careth for you."
1 Pet. 5:7
191 E. Gladys Ave.
Sunday Worship at 11am
(541) 567-3002
Our Lady of Angels
Catholic Church
Grace Baptist Church
565 W. HERMISTON AVE.
DAILY MASS: Monday-Friday
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 7:00 am
THURSDAY . . . . . . . . . Spanish 6:00 pm
SATURDAY: . . . . . . . . . English 5:00 pm
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 7:00 pm
SUNDAY: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . English 9:00 am
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bilingual 11:00 am
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spanish 1:00 pm
OFFICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567-5812
NEW HOPE
COMMUNITY CHURCH
1350 S. Highway 395, Hermiston
Sunday Worship Services
English- Pastor Dave Andrus
9:00 & 10:45 am
Spanish- Pastor Genaro Loredo
9:00 & 10:15 am
Classes for kids during all services
For more information call
541-567-8441
First Christian
Church
"Proclaiming the Message of
Hope, Living the Gospel of Love"
SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 AM
SUNDAY SCHOOL 9:30 AM
CHILDREN'S CHURCH 11:00 AM
Nursery Provided
567-3013
775 W. Highland Ave., Hermiston
Nursery provided for all services
Sunday School - 9:30 AM
Worship - 10:45 AM
6:00 pm
Wed Prayer & Worship - 7:00 PM
“Proclaiming God’s word,
growing in God’s grace”
Saturdays
Sabbath School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9:30 a.m.
Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 a.m.
567-8241
855 W. Highland • Hermiston
32742 Diagonal RD
Hermiston OR 97838
Sunday School 10 am
Worship 7 am
Evening Service 7 pm
Bible Study Wednesdays 7 pm
Firestarter Youth Ministry
(Ages 12-17)
Monday @ 6 pm
Christmas Eve Service at
Hermiston Church of the Nazarene
1520 W Orchard Ave.
Thursday, December 24th at 6:00 p.m.
I look forward to joining you and your family for this
60 minute celebration as we celebrate Jesus. Pastor Eric
www.hermistonnazarene.org or HermNaz App
All People
Are Welcome
Celebrate Christmas
Scripture, Tradition
and Reason
with the members of
Family service 9am Sunday
Gladys Ave & 7th Hermiston
Fr. Dan Lediard, Priest. PH: 567-6672
125 E. Beech Ave. • 567-3232
Pastor David Dever
Sun. Bible Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10:00am
Sun. Worship Service . . . . . . . . . . 11:00am
Sun. Evening Worship . . . . . . . . . . 6:00pm
Wed. Prayer & Bible Study . . . 6:00pm
www.hermistonlmbc.com
T HE C OUNTRY C HURCH
Pastor James Becker
Candlelight Communion
St. Johns
Episcopal Church
LANDMARK BAPTIST
CHURCH
555 SW 11th, Hermiston
567-9497
Hermiston Church
of the Nazarene
To share your worship times
call Amanda Jacobs
541-278-2683
H ERMISTON F IRST U NITED
M ETHODIST C HURCH
191 East Gladys
• LIVING NATIVITY:
Sat. Dec. 12 th 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Sun. Dec. 13 th 4:00 - 6:00 PM
- Walk through at your own pace as the
Christmas Story unfolds with live actors,
a donkey, sheep & chickens.
- Afterwards warm up inside with refreshments.
• Regular Sunday Morning Services at 11:00 AM
• Christmas Eve:
“Come and Go Communion Service”
in our sanctuary Dec. 24 th
from 7:00 - 8:00 PM
